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Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji



Government, and the other half to the missionaries. The price of

bananas is about 2s. 6d. for 400, allowing for rejects, which means that

the native has to grow something like 500 to 600 to get 400 perfect

ones which the trader will take. So to pay the tax he has to produce

something like 8,000 bananas each year. At all events he doesn’t

show his troubles to the outsider.


The currency is usually coco-nuts,.thirty-six of which are needed to

buy one box of matches from the insidious Chinese storekeeper.

One can imagine the procession needed to carry the cash when the

lady of the house does her Christmas shopping !


To row up one of the mangrove rivers is an experience not easily

forgotten. It looks rather like an oak forest which has been flooded

to a height of eight or nine feet. The mangroves arch over the river

channel and form a wonderful green tunnel while the waters look dark,

deep, and mysterious. One can often paddle miles up a river like this.

Ever so often arms branch off from the main stream and if one follows

them they lead to some delightful native village or banana plantation.

The whole effect of these mangrove rivers is extremely weird and can

never be adequately described.


Stopping at the first village, we heard the loud cries of these wonderful

Parrakeets which reached us as we lay at anchor over half a mile from

the shore. I found the bird quite abundant even around the native

villages. It always betrays its whereabouts by the loud raucous cries.

It was a great treat to see this splendid bird in a state of freedom. No

bird I have ever seen looks more superb when in flight than this one.

The brilliant scarlet, the intense blue, and the vivid glittering green

show up to the best advantage when the bird in flying. It is not

timid as Parrakeets go, which I suppose is owing to the bird being in

no way persecuted by the natives.


Years ago the Kandavu people reared a great many birds from

the nest and did quite a trade with them in Suva, where they took them

for sale. The birds were mainly purchased by the Samoan residents

and traders who plucked them of their scarlet feathers, which they

used to decorate their mats and make into “ lais ”. I met someone

in Suva who quite recently had a female Eclectus stolen and killed by

the Samoans so that they could obtain its scarlet feathers for their



